Textile-printing machine

ABSTRACT

A downwardly open receptacle for coloring fluid, overlying an apertured masking screen, is provided at its bottom with a pair of elastic sealing strips sloping downwardly and terminating in confronting upturned edges bounding a discharge slot. The sealing strips are weighted down by two parallel rods of magnetizable material which are cradled in troughs formed by the upturned strip edges and are resiliently engaged from above by a pair of retaining blades, thereby holding the lowest parts of the strips in firm contact with the masking screen against a carpet or other underlying substrate to be colored.

nited States Zimmer atent 1191 [54] TEXTILE-PRINTING MACHINE [76] Inventor: Peter Zimmer, Untere Sparchen 54,

A 6330 Kufstein, Austria [22] Filed; Jan. 3, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 320,739

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Jan. 4, 1972 Austria 3172/72 Feb. 24, 1972 Austria 001531/72 [52] U.S. C1. ..101/119; 101/120; 101/123; lO1/124;101/364;10l/366;118/406 [5l] Int. Cl. B41f 15/40; B4lf 15/44 [58] Field of Search 101/116, 119,120,123, 101/124, 364,157,169,122, 366,121; 222/64; 118/213, 406

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,541,787 6/1925 Cadgene 101/120 2,276,181 3/1942 Foster 2,966,844 1/1961 Laupman.... 3,145,653 8/1964 Lake 3,198,109 8/1965 Dwyer et al 3,566,784 3/1971 Mitter lOl/120 1451 June 24, 1975 3,583,437 6/1971 Mastroianni 222/64 X 3,592,132 7/1971 Weber lOl/119 3,613,635 10/1971 Brehm 101/119 X 3,632,019 1/1972 Harm 222/56 3,673,958 7/1972 Billiet lOl/122 3,688,692 9/1972 Vasilantone lOl/119 X Primary Examiner-Edgar S. Burr Assistant Examiner-R. E. Suter Attorney, Agent, 0r Frm-Ernest G. Montague; Karl F. Ross; Herbert Dubno [57] ABSTRACT A downwardly open receptacle for coloring fluid, overlying an apertured masking screen, is provided at its bottom with a pair of elastic sealing strips sloping downwardly and terminating in confronting upturned edges bounding a discharge slot. The sealing strips are weighted down by two parallel rods of magnetizable material which are cradled in troughs formed by the upturned strip edges and are resiliently engaged from above by a pair of retaining blades, thereby holding the lowest parts of the strips in firm contact with the masking screen against a carpet or other underlying substrate to be colored.

6'C'laims, l Drawing Figure l TEXTILE-PRINTING MACHINE FIELD OF THE INVENTION My present invention relates to a device for printing textile materials, especially textile sheets of considerable width such as carpets, with the aid of an apertured masking screen or stencil inserted between the substrate to be colored and a receptacle for a coloring fluid formed with a discharge slot.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Such textile materials, particularly those with a high nap, require large quantities of coloring fluid which must pass through the discharge slot of the receptacle but must not be allowed to reach the masking screen at any other point. Thus, it is essential to prevent leakage of fluid between the slot edges and the screen over the entire length of the slot.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION The object of my present invention, therefore. is to provide improved sealing means for preventing such leakage in a simple and effective manner, despite possible variations in the thickness of the substrate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION I realize this object. in accordance with the present invention, by the provision of elastic sealing strips extending across part of the bottom of a downwardly open receptacle and forming a discharge slot therebetween, the strips sloping down toward the slot and being provided with upturned confronting edges bounding that slot. The lowest parts of the strips are held in firm contact with a masking screen, against an underlying substrate to be colored. by loading means within the receptacle bearing upon the strips adjacent their upturned edges, thereby preventing the coloring fluid in the receptacle from penetrating between the masking screen and the strips.

In an advantageous embodiment of my invention the loading means comprises a pair of parallel rods resting on the strips, the weight of these being supplemented by the force of resilient retaining blades loosely engaging the rods from above and also by magnetic attraction from below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The above and other features of my invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing the sole FIGURE of which schematically shows a representative embodiment.

SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION As shown in the drawing, a downwardly open receptacle I is filled with coloring fluid l0 adapted to issue therefrom through a discharge slot 11 formed between a pair of elastic sealing strips 2 and 3 at the bottom of the receptacle. The profile of this receptacle generally corresponds to a sector of a circle tangent to a surface of an underlying substrate 5 to be colored. The strips 2 and 3, sloping downwardly toward slot 11, terminate in a pair of upturned edges 2` 3 so that their lowest portions lie on opposite sides of the slot. Two parallel rods 8 of circular cross-section` made of magnetizable material, rest on these strips just above their lowest points and are cradled in troughs formed by the upturned edges 2', 3 thereby acting as loading means for the strips. The rods 8 are loosely held by resilient retaining-blades 9 formed-with a pair of downwardly open recesses 9' partly receiving the rods which are thereby placed under downward pressure. With the aid of electromagnets 7 (only one shown), disposed underneath the slot ll, the rods 8 are additionally biased downwardlyI against an apertured masking screen 4 which is inserted between the strips 2, 3 and the substrate 5, such as a carpet, passing continuously beneath the receptacle l on a supporting surface 6.

Coloring fluid l() is supplied to receptacle l from a reservoir 2l through a conduit 2() connected with an extension 22 thereof through an electromagnetically operated valve 24, conduit 20 containing a pump 19 which raises the liquid from reservoir 21 to a level I3 in an upwardly open vessel 14 communicating with conduit 20. A level sensor l5 in vessel I4 works via a line 16 into a control circuit 17 which is connected to pump 19 by a line 18 for holding the liquid level 13 in vessel 14 at a substantially constant elevation l2 with reference to the discharge slot Il. The hydrostatic head of vessel 14 maintains a substantially constant fluid pressure in receptacle l. The latter can be emptied by suction through a return line 23 communicating with the discharge slot l1 through a channel 23a which passes between blades 9.

Sensor l5 may be of any conventional design including. for example, a jet nozzle which feeds signal pulse to the controller 17 to indicate whether or not the liquid has reached the desired level I3.

The loading of the strips 2 and 3 by the mechanically and magnetically biased rods 8 prevents the coloring fluid 10 from leaking out of the slot 1l between the lowest points of the strips and the screen 4. Thus, a clean pattern is printed on the substrate 5.

The conduit 22 may be duplicated at several locations across the width of the substrate 5 to enable the processing of wide sheets of textile material, e.g. carpets measuring several meters in width.

Masking screen 4 may be of the rotary' type, though this is not essential for the purpose of my invention.

I claim:

l. In a textile-printing machine, in combination:

a downwardly open receptacle for coloring fluid;

a pair of elastic sealing strips extending across part of the open bottom of said receptacle and forming a discharge slot therebetween, said strips sloping downwardly toward said slot and being provided with upturned confronting edge bounding said slot;

an apertured masking screen underneath said receptacle bridging said slot; and

loading means within said receptacle bearing on said strips adjacent said upturned edges for holding the lowest parts of said strips in firm contact with said screen against an underlying substrate to be colored, thereby preventing said coloring fluid from penetrating between said mask and said strips.

2. The combination defined in claim 1 wherein said loading means comprises a pair of parallel rods resting on said strips.

3. The combination defined in claim 2 wherein said rods are round and cradled in a pair of troughs formed by said upturned edges.

4. The combination defined in claim 3 wherein said loading means further comprises resilient blade means loosely engaging said rods from above and urging same downwardly against said strips.

5. The combination defined in claim .4tiwherei'n said blademeans is formed with a pair of dowmvar'dl) open.

` are made of niagne'tizable material, said loading means further Comprising `magnet means below said slot exerting a downward force upon said rods.

.I UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT No. 1 3,890,896 DATED 24 June 1975 rNvENToR(s) Peter ZIMMER It is certifi ed that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

U Lrnelpj, for "3172/72" read A 31/72 for "001531/72" read A 1531/72 Signed and Sealed this twenty-eight Day Of October 1975 [SEAL] Attest: i

RUTH C. MASON C. MARSHALL DANN fSl-Hg ffff Commissioner oflalenls and Trademarks 

1. In a textile-printing machine, in combination: a downwardly open receptacle for coloring fluid; a pair of elastic sealing strips extending across part of the open bottom of said receptacle and forming a discharge slot therebetween, said strips sloping downwardly toward said slot and being provided with upturned confronting edge bounding said slot; an apertured masking screen underneath said receptacle bridging said slot; and loading means within said receptacle bearing on said strips adjacent said upturned edges for holding the lowest parts of said strips in firm contact with said screen against an underlying substrate to be colored, thereby preventing said coloring fluid from penetrating between said mask and said strips.
 2. The combination defined in claim 1 wherein said loading means comprises a pair of parallel rods resting on said strips.
 3. The combination defined in claim 2 wherein said rods are round and cradled in a pair of troughs formed by said upturned edges.
 4. The combination defined in claim 3 wherein said loading means further comprises resilient blade means loosely engaging said rods from above and urging same downwardly against said strips.
 5. The combination defined in claim 4 wherein said blade means is formed with a pair of downwardly open recesses partly receiving said rods for holding same in position.
 6. The combination defined in claim 2 wherein said rods are made of magnetizable material, said loading means further comprising magnet means below said slot exerting a downward force upon said rods. 